Ferritin is the protein your body stores iron in. Its level tells your doctor whether you have enough iron long before anemia develops. Here’s what your numbers mean, in plain language.
| Category | Reference range |
|---|---|
| Women | 13–150 ng/mL |
| Men | 30–400 ng/mL |
| Children | 7–140 (depends on age) ng/mL |
These ranges are a rough guide and vary by laboratory and testing method. Always compare your result with the reference range printed on your own lab report.
Picture a warehouse for iron: your body needs iron all the time (above all to make hemoglobin and carry oxygen), but it can’t get a fresh supply every single day. So part of that iron is kept in a special storage protein — ferritin.
A ferritin test shows how full that warehouse is. It is the earliest and most reliable measure of your iron stores: it drops before hemoglobin does, so it can catch a shortage of iron early.
Low ferritin almost always means iron deficiency — the storage is empty. It is the most common finding, especially in women because of periods, and also in pregnancy, on a vegetarian diet, after blood loss, or when iron isn’t absorbed well.
High ferritin is trickier to read. It doesn’t always mean “too much iron”: ferritin rises with inflammation, infection, after physical exertion, and in liver disease and obesity — it acts as an “acute phase protein”.
Less often, high ferritin does point to genuine iron overload (in hereditary hemochromatosis, for example). Additional tests help tell the two apart (iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, CRP) — your doctor decides which ones you need.
Look at your number next to the reference range on your lab report, and at how you feel. Ferritin close to the bottom of the range plus tiredness is a good reason to talk about iron deficiency with your doctor. High ferritin with no obvious explanation is a reason to look further, not to panic.
No single number makes a diagnosis. Ferritin is read together with a complete blood count (CBC) (hemoglobin, red blood cells) and other markers of iron metabolism.
No need to decode the numbers yourself: take a photo of the report and the app explains “Ferritin” and the rest in plain words — what is normal and what deserves attention.
Get the appOpen in TelegramComfortable usually means a value well inside the reference range, not right at the bottom of it. But a “good” number is individual — it has to be read together with your hemoglobin and your symptoms.
Technically it may fall into the lower part of the normal range, but many people with values like this already have hidden iron deficiency, especially if they feel tired and are losing hair. It’s worth showing the result to your doctor.
Yes. Ferritin rises with inflammation and infection, so it’s better not to have the test during an acute illness, and to read the result with how you feel in mind.
Blood is usually drawn in the morning after an overnight fast. The day before, avoid intense workouts and alcohol — they can affect the result. Check the exact requirements with your laboratory.
This material is for general information only. It is not a medical opinion and does not replace a consultation with a doctor. Reference ranges depend on the laboratory and the method — rely on the range printed on your own report. Your doctor makes the final interpretation. This page is a translation of the Russian original. The medical review applies to the original text.
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